JPMorgan Chase is to cut its headcount by 4000 jobs over the coming year as it bids to save $1 billion in annual expenses from its consumer banking business.
Most of the job cuts will come through a process of attrition as the bank looks to add more technology to its branch network for dealing with routine transactions and repositions staff for wealth management advice and cross-sales.
Unlike its competitors, JPMorgan Chase has been actively adding to its branch network, opening 150 new branches in 2012, and staying on course to open a further 200 over the next two years. The bank says the average branch takes four years to reach break-even and has an eight-year payback, with each site contributing $1 million to pre-tax income upon maturity.
The bank had 5614 branches at the end of 2012, making its network the second-biggest in the United States behind Wells Fargo.